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APM Terminals Invest $70m in Raising Port Elizabeth Capacity

APM Terminals is investing $70m in Port Elizabeth to allow larger ships to call after the Bayonne Bridge raising project is finished next year.

A new berth will cater to vessels up to 13,000 teu, and will increase the terminal’s capacity from 1.5m teu to 2.3m teu per year.

“With the Panama Canal expansion opening and the raising of the Bayonne Bridge, the surrounding infrastructure creates the opportunity for larger vessels to call at the port,” APM Terminals chief executive Kim Fejfer told Lloyd’s List.

“In the past we had vessels of 6,500 teu-7,000 teu but if the individual terminal facilities could handle it, then you could have vessels of up to 13,000 teu by 2018.”

Mr Fejfer said the port of New York/New Jersey was located in one of the biggest consumer markets in the world but did not have the capacity to handle the optimal size of vessel.

“Based on our experience from other ports, cargo will always find the cheapest way from end to end, and if you have better capabilities in New York/New Jersey I think you will see greater growth than what the market would otherwise dictate,” he said.

APMT North America president Wim Lagaay said the investment in a new berth capable of handling 13,000 teu vessels would help Port Elizabeth become even more competitive and represented the first in a series of modernisation initiatives.

APM Terminals’ Port Elizabeth facility is one of the largest container terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey complex. The terminal operator, based in The Hague, will issue a private tender for construction of the berth in the autumn of 2016.

New York/New Jersey is the largest port on the US east coast and third-largest in the US, handling 6.4 teu in 2015.